Bad Idea
by I-write-hurt-not-comfort
Summary: Leo is Elliot's new valet, and has already managed to irritate his master. When he finds Elliot after he stormed off, he is both shocked and upset to find Elliot... smoking? Clearly Vincent and Gilbert are a bad influence on Elliot, so it's up to Leo. After all, correcting their master's behaviour is a valet's job, right? One-shot / Possible sequel / no yaoi


**_(A/Ns: New crappy one-shot time! This fanfic is actually quite personal to me, and I might as well just come out and say it now. The entire topic of smoking is very important to me. No, its not because I do myself; I would never do that. I have lost someone very special to me because of it, and I have always believed in giving people the hope and strength to quit, as well as making sure they are aware of why not to start in the first place. As for this fic, it was inspired by me seeing a few of my older friends smoking today outside my school, even after one of them had promised me not to. And from my feelings of being let-down-ness(?) I wrote this. A lot of my fanfics include smoking, but this one means a lot to me._**

 ** _This takes place in the manga when Elliot and Leo are both 14, Vincent is 21 and Gil is 22 so no Oz :'( it's about 1 week after Leo becomes Elliot's valet._**

 ** _Please review! I would love to know if people feel the same as me, or were able to make a connection with Leo in this fanfic. All reviews are welcome, and if anyone wants me to I might make a quick sequel to this one! :3_**

 ** _Disclaimer: I do not own Pandora Hearts. If I did, Elliot x Leo would be canon)_**

 **~ Bad Idea ~**

Elliot was pissed off, to say the least.

He was storming around the garden, frowning at his new valet as he stomped across the grass angrily. The sun was covered by grey, low hanging clouds, and it was getting unusually dark for only four in the afternoon. The blonde pinned his arms to the back of his head, pacing restlessly as he gritted his teeth.

Suddenly, two faint voices travelled into his hearing range, and he immediately registered them as his two adopted brothers; Gilbert and Vincent. He followed the sounds until he reached the white gazebo sheltered by a large oak tree, making it a perfect place to hide from the rest of the Nightrays. Elliot poked his head through the opening, immediately spotting who he had heard.

Gilbert was leaning against one of the posts holding the gazebo up, his signature black coat draped over the edge and a cigarette in his mouth. Vincent, on the other hand, was sitting on one of the benches, with one leg kicked over the over. He breathed out smoke, a cigarette dangling loosely between two fingers.

"Why hello, Elliot," Vincent greeted, the hand which held the white stick waving as he took another drag, "Aw, why does Elly look so distressed?"

"Shut up…" Elliot growled, his anger and nerves growing, "Leo's pissing me off."

"Oh, come on," Vincent puffed out more smoke, "Give him a chance, he's only been your valet for a week. He'll prove himself eventually."

Gilbert faced upwards, almost as if he had only just started paying attention, "What did he do this time?" he asked nonchalantly, taking a deep drag from the cigarette and pulling it from his mouth.

"He was ignoring me!" Elliot yelled, "He was reading one of those stupid books again, and I asked him to get me tea, and he just said no! Ugh, I swear, Leo has done nothing for me. He's useless! _And_ I tried to get him to-"

"Elly, shut up," Vincent cut him off, teasingly blowing a cloud of smoke up to his face, "Just chill out here for a bit, and take another cigarette."

"Wait! N-no… he'll get addicted!" Gilbert warned, protectively placing a hand over the pocket which held his pack as he stuck the cigarette back in his mouth, "And Vince, you should probably stop taking mine too."

"Relax, Gil," Vincent stood up, trailing his fingers past his brother's waist to the guarded pocket, "I won't get addicted, it's fine. And neither will he."

"Vincent, you've let him have 7 over the past 4 days, that's more than enough; believe me," Gilbert tried to convince him, and then muttered under his breath, "You're effectively pulling a Break…"

Vincent breathed in the smoke out of irritation now, "It doesn't matter if he does. A lot of nobles smoke anyway. You already do."

"He's 14…" Gilbert deadpanned, "And I can see his hands shaking. He probably followed us in here just to get one."

"And that's why we should give him one!" persuaded Vincent, flicking the stray ash off of his cigarette, "Elliot, you need one, right?"

"Tch," Elliot scoffed, sheepishly looking down at his hands, and noticing that they were indeed shaking, "… yeh, sure. Just give me the damn cigarette and stop patronising me."

"You heard him. Give him one."

Gilbert sighed in defeat, plucking his own cigarette from his lips as he removed the pack and reluctantly passed it to his younger brother along with a matchbook. Elliot caught it in one swift movement, ripping open the pack and pulling out one of the cancer sticks. He struck the match, watching as the flame lit up before throwing both objects back to Gil.

Elliot placed the cigarette in his mouth and held the flame up to it, breathing in sharply and lighting it. Once it was lit he shook out the flame of the match and threw it aside, taking a desperate drag before exhaling a steady stream of grey, toxic smoke. He sighed in relief, immediately dropping his shoulders as he felt himself relax immensely.

"Looks like someone needed that," Vincent chuckled, sucking the life out of his own cigarette and extinguishing it in the ash tray Gilbert had previously placed there.

"Yeh… and later when the cravings get too strong, suck it up and don't smoke again," Gilbert started down at his own stick, snubbing it out on the wall and chucking it recklessly into the ash tray, "You'll regret it."

Elliot scowled and took a long drag off his cigarette. He paced and smoked for a little longer before finally calming down enough to sit down without fidgeting.

"When do you go back to Lutwidge?" Vincent asked, keeping up the small talk, considering it might be a bit rude to just get up and leave.

"Ugh…" Elliot groaned, blowing out smoke rings as he covered his face with his hands, the cigarette tip dangerously close to his face, "A few days. I forgot about that… shit, I'm gonna have to bring Leo aren't I?"

Vincent and Gilbert nodded simultaneously.

"Aw crap," he complained, dragging strongly on the white stick and puffing out smoke as he tipped his head back against the gazebo wall, "I'm gonna have to force him into getting that rats nest cut before we do…"

…..

Meanwhile, Leo was rushing around the Nightray estate, searching for his master. He figured he'd made a bad choice earlier, but he did warn Elliot that he wouldn't be a very competent valet.

 _"_ _I'm not fit to serve."_

The words he had spoken rang over in his mind as he continued racing around the gardens. Despite his sight being pretty poor (for obvious reasons), his hearing senses were pretty strong.

After another turn, he finally reached the place where he had heard Elliot's voice coming from. Leo scanned the area, quickly noticing a white gazebo, with tree branches covering it. The area was pretty secluded; it was an ideal place to hide away.

Considering Elliot stormed off before Leo could correct his own actions, he guessed that Elliot would be pretty pissed when he was found by the person he was specifically trying to avoid. Leo braced himself as he stepped inside of the gazebo, shutting his eyes for a brief moment.

When he finally opened them, he was in shock at what he saw, "Um… Elliot?"

Elliot was snapped out of his trance, looking up to see Leo staring in astonishment at the cigarette, which was burning away between his fingers. He cursed, "Shit. Leo…!"

Before his common sense could kick into play, Elliot took one last drag from the cigarette in his hand before snubbing it out on the wall and chucking the butt onto the ground.

"… Were you smoking?" Leo asked, raising an eyebrow judgementally at his master.

"Um…" Elliot spoke through a cloud of smoke as he tried to discretely blow the excess smoke out through the side of his mouth. It was failing. "Maybe…"

"I'm not stupid, Elliot," Leo said sternly, briefly glancing over to where Gilbert and Vincent previously were. They had escaped the awkward situation.

"Why would you even care?" Elliot grunted, "If I want to smoke, then I will! You can't stop me; I'm your master. You'll do what I say. Besides, it doesn't matter, loads of the nobles do it anyway."

"But… you're 14…" Leo pointed out slowly.

"Yeh, so?"

"Well… it's a bit young to be throwing your life away, don't you think?"

"Huh?"

Leo edged closer to the blonde, "You can send me off to go get you cigarettes, and I wouldn't be able to say anything against it."

"Good, at least you've learnt your place," said Elliot, "I order you to get me a pack at some point in the near future, and it's your responsibility to make sure Vanessa doesn't find out."

"I wasn't done talking…" the noirette spoke quietly, but then looked up to his master and smiled innocently, "I was going to say… Isn't it _also_ a valet's job to correct his master's behaviour?"

"Well… yeh… but-"

"And not only is this illegal for your age," he cut him off, picking up the stray cigarette butt and holding it up in front of Elliot's face, "This is also disgusting. It's my duty to protect you and your life. That means… stopping you from a slow suicide."

Elliot felt his face heat up as he stuttered, "S-sorry…"

"Don't worry. I'm not that upset. I just feel like after all that time… I never thought you'd do something like that. I just feel a little… let down, I guess."

Elliot nodded, sheepishly glancing down at his feet as he shuffled the leaves around on the ground.

"So," Leo said, firing up the conversation once again, "Is your order still in place?"

After a moment of brief consideration, the blonde sighed and smiled down at Leo, "No… I won't smoke, ever again…"

"Thank you, _master,_ " Leo laughed, walking away from the gazebo with Elliot following him, "I'm sorry about earlier, by the way."

"Yeh, you better be…" Elliot groaned, realising that he was pretty much already addicted to nicotine, "And be ready, Leo, I'm gonna be a grumpy shitface for the next few days… more than usual, I mean."

His valet glanced up at him in confusion and asked, "Why?"

"Because you're going to be helping me quit."


End file.
